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Coménius Juin 2011, Paris UPMC
FLAGS and ASTRONOMY
Michel FAYE, lycée Louis Le Grand, Paris
Email : [email protected]
Level: kids/students : 10-15 years old
Flags and Astronomy
For many countries the national flag is connected with astronomy:
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Flags and Astronomy
For many countries the national flag is connected with astronomy:
With the Sun:
Bangladesh
Japan
Argentina
Uruguay
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Flags and Astronomy
For many countries the national flag is connected with astronomy:
With the Sun:
Bangladesh
Japan
Maldivas Islands
Pakistan
Argentina
Uruguay
With the
Moon:
Algeria
Malaisia
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Flags and Astronomy
For many countries the national flag is connected with astronomy:
With the Sun:
Bangladesh
Japan
Maldivas Islands
Pakistan
Argentina
Uruguay
With the
Moon:
Algeria
Malaisia
With stars
United States
of America
China
Syria
Europa
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Flags and Astronomy
With constellation(s)
(mainly Southern
Cross):
New Zeland
Australia
Papouasia
New Guinea
Brazil
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Flags and Astronomy
With constellation(s)
(mainly Southern
Cross):
New Zeland
Australia
Papouasia
New Guinea
Brazil
This list is not limited! You can find other examples.
One country has an astronomic instrument on the national flag: it’s Portugal with an astrolab:
Detail: astrolab
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Flags and Astronomy
1st step: Sun, Moon and stars
Sun : flags are connected to religious reasons: Japan ( Sun Godness
Amaterasu is said to be the Emperor’s ancestress) ; Argentina (Inca
god Inti )
or for poetic reason : Bengladesh ( Tagore’s poem :Thanksgiving)
Moon:most of the countries that have the Moon on their national flag
are muslim ones.
For many cultures, the Sky is the land of the perfection, the Heaven;
the link between the Sky and us is the light of the stars, perfect objects.
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Flags and Astronomy
About the European Flag
An interpretation of this flag: Europa is a christian land
The blue color is the color of Virgo and the cercle of the twelve golden stars is the crown of Virgo
You can see the Virgo with her crown on a painting inside the church of the benediktin monastery of Ettal
(Bavaria, Germany).
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Flags and Astronomy
2nd step: Southern Cross Constellation on three flags:
New Zeland,
Australia ,
Brazil
Southern Cross Constellation has been chosen by countries of Southern
Hemisphere because the sky helpt travellers inland or at sea.
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Flags and Astronomy
What can we see?
On the New Zeland flag : South Cross with 4 stars
On the Australian flag : South Cross with 5 stars! Why?
On the Brazilian flag: South Cross with 5 stars but this South Cross is
axial
Symetric with the South Cross of the Australian flag! Why?
And more than that, they are many stars (27 exactly) on the brazilian flag.
What do they stand for?
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Flags and Astronomy
3th step : Difference between New Zeland flag
and Australian flag
The 5th star who appears on the Australian flag and not on the New Zeland flag is ε Cru
This is a picture of the South Cross
made with Stellarium (Free software)
The five brightest stars are:
α Cru (Acrux)
Mag: 1.25
β Cru ( Mimosa) Mag: 1.25
γ Cru ( Gacrux)
Mag: 1.55
δ Cru
Mag: 2.75
ε Cru
Mag: 3.55
The bigger is magnitude, less bright
the star is.
On the NewZeland flag there is only
the 4 brightest stars of this
constellation
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Flags and Astronomy
4 th step: The axial symetry of the Southern Cross between the Australian flag
and the Brazilian flag
Southern Cross
see from the Earth
Australian flag
Brazilian flag
Southern Cross
seen from the Cosmos
It’s the different point of view that explain this axial symetry!
Brazilian flag maps the Constellation seen from the Cosmos
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Flags and Astronomy
5 th step: the Brazilian flag, a planetarium viewed from the sky
The brazilian flag:
We can see Southern Cross
( Axial symetry) and
other constellations
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Flags and Astronomy
Sky on Rio De Janeiro the 15th of november 1889 à 12h 30 GMT,
the day of independance. Let us use Stellarium
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Flags and Astronomy
And the same sky seen from the cosmos: we get the brazilian flag!
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Flags and Astronomy
At the moment of the independance’s declaration the main axe
of Southern Cross was perfectly in line with the meridian
of Rio de Janeiro
On the Brazilian flag , there are 8 constellations:
Canis Minor
Canis Major
Hydra
Carina
Octans
Virgo
Australe triangulum
and Scorpius
Try it: find these constellations an the Brazilian Flag!
Nota: there are 27 stars = the number of states in Brazil
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